leaks

Some people are prepared to take the risk and not bother getting a leak detection done on brand new homes, and I have no idea why! When you’re investing 100’s of thousands of dollars, you need to cross all the T’s and dot all the I’s, otherwise you could get caught out. Put it this way, you’ll absolutely kick yourself if you move in and find leaks a couple of months later. There’s no need to rush your purchase… if this one has leaks or moisture issues, there’s plenty of other homes to choose from.

Recently I was hired to check for signs of leaks & moisture in a brand new home in Massey, Auckland. The home had been built and sitting on the market empty for 3 months. In this case, the home came up clean and didn’t show any signs of moisture ingress which is great for all parties involved. At the end of the day, it was still wise for the buyer to get this leak inspection done, as there had been alot of rain around and any ‘oversights’ by the builder may well have been revealed. (The building inspection did show up a couple of minor issues though!!).

An infrared inspection will also show up any ‘patches’ of missing insulation that have been missed (could well be a cost cutting method on the builders behalf). Really, what is the probability of you climbing into the roof space to check for missing insulation that would ultimately result in heat loss and higher heating bills? And… there is almost NO CHANCE you’ll know about missing insulation is the walls! We can see these potential issues with the infrared camera without needing to put holes in the wall or climb into the ceiling.

Don’t let the beautiful kitchen divert your attention away from what could be hiding behind the walls. If you do the correct checks up front in the pre purchase phase, you’ll sleep peacefully at night… and that in itself in extremely valuable (just ask anyone who’s purchased a leaky home).

Finding where air is penetrating into your home can drive you around in circles, and sometimes you won’t actually see where it’s coming from (eg. through gaps in insulation blowing cool air onto the back of your wall). The process to find and air leak can be made simple, but it’s usually the time when you think you’ve detected where the air leak is penetrating, another one pops up. Lets take the following photo as an example…

(Thanks to www.x20.org for this pic… it’s taken with the same camera as we use)

Usually you’d feel the air draft coming through the bottom of the door, because your feet and legs would catch the breeze… but what about the one at the top of the door? Unless you’re rather tall you wouldn’t feel the air leak up there. In most cases you would replace the seal right around the door anyway… but you need to know where the air leak is in the first place! We can detect air leaks around doors, windows and missing insulation through the eyes of our highly sensitive thermal imaging camera.

Don’t let your energy bill keep climbing!

Contact Us today for a complete thermal imaging inspections of your home!

It’s amazing how many laundries seem to leak. Any wet area needs to be check on a regular basis, because it only takes a very small leak to gradually drip away behind a wall (loose tap fittings) and then the ‘cancer like’ damage begins.

If you’ve ever had flood or overflow in the bathroom or laundry, you should also get a thermal imaging check up, regardless if you think it all went down the drain. The reason for this is because at some stage the water would have touched the edge of the wall, and if you have the slighest of gaps or a small hole (i.e Size of a nail hole), then water would have gotten in no problem at all.

Don’t leave your home to chance!

Contact us today for a complete thermal scan on the wet areas in your home today!